The average price per m² in Venelles is 4 727 €/m² for an apartment, based on actual notarised (DVF) sales. About 29 transactions are recorded each year.
Atmospheric illustration of Venelles, a residential municipality north of Aix-en-Provence, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department.
The average price of apartments in Venelles stands at 4 727 €/m², based on the transactions actually registered with notaries in the DVF database, the French record of notarised property sales. That average covers a stock where houses are largely dominant: the old village on its plateau, the bastide country houses and developments in the surrounding countryside, and more recent blocks born of residential growth towards Aix-en-Provence. Floor area, condition, the presence of a garden or a swimming pool, aspect and proximity to shops and to the A51 motorway junction make values vary appreciably. The number of apartment sales remains limited, which makes the annual average more sensitive to the properties actually sold.
Prices from the DVF file (Demandes de valeurs foncières, published by the DGFiP), transactions actually recorded at the notary at municipality level. Cross-referenced with the Notaires de France - INSEE indices. Learn more about our methodology.
The Venelles market is driven first of all by its role as a residential municipality north of Aix-en-Provence. The immediate proximity of the Aix hub, of its jobs, its universities and its services, combined with a Provençal country setting, sustains steady family demand. New supply nonetheless remains measured: the stock is dominated by detached houses, building land is scarce and most transactions involve resales. That imbalance between settled demand and restricted supply supports prices, in an area already among the most sought after in the ring around Aix.
Several factors frame the movement of prices. The A51 junction places Venelles some fifteen minutes from Aix-en-Provence and makes journeys towards the Marseille area easier, which widens the potential clientele. Conversely, the absence of a passenger station and the reliance on the car limit its appeal for households without a vehicle. The small number of apartment sales each year also makes the average more volatile: a handful of atypical transactions is enough to move it, which invites readers to take the published price as an order of magnitude rather than a fixed value.
Venelles sits above Gardanne, further south, and clearly above Pertuis, on the other side of the Durance. The municipality remains below Aix-en-Provence, its large neighbour to the south and the upper benchmark of the area.
The site of Venelles has been occupied for a long time: a Celto-Ligurian settlement is thought to date back to around 400 BC, followed by a Roman establishment around 15 BC. The place was laid waste by the Lombards in 574, then again in the eleventh century during the Saracen incursions. Only in the fifteenth century was the land lastingly reoccupied. The village then remained very modest: there were only seven houses around 1530, some thirty in 1728, one hundred and twenty-four in 1765 and two hundred and eleven in 1820. That slow growth shaped a farming village clinging to its plateau, in the heart of the Aix countryside.
The nineteenth century marked a turning point. The countryside around Aix enjoyed a golden age and Venelles filled with châteaux and large bastide country houses, several of which survive today and bear witness to that period. Amenities followed: a railway line was built in 1865 and a school opened in 1882. On 11 June 1909, the earthquake known as the Lambesc quake, one of the most violent felt in mainland France, struck the region and destroyed many houses in the municipality. The village rebuilt itself and kept its rural character, still largely turned towards farming and Provençal country life at the start of the twentieth century.
The decisive transformation came in the second half of the twentieth century. Venelles had only 796 inhabitants in 1793 and 1 553 in 1968; the population then rose sharply, reaching 5 225 inhabitants in 1982, then 8 418 in 2023, driven by the residential expansion of Aix-en-Provence, for which Venelles became an overflow municipality. The old village, on its plateau, was joined by developments and detached-house districts spread across the surrounding countryside. The opening of the A51 motorway and its junction anchored the municipality in the Aix-Marseille-Provence area, of which it is part, and explain its present shape: a village core surrounded by a broad fabric of houses.
Venelles has 8 418 inhabitants according to INSEE, the French statistics institute. A residential municipality north of Aix-en-Provence, it attracts first of all year-round households, often families and working people employed in the Aix or Marseille areas who are looking for a country setting a few minutes from the city. According to INSEE, more than nine dwellings out of ten are main residences and detached houses account for around three quarters of the stock, the sign of a municipality of individual homes rather than a tourist destination. Close to seven households out of ten own their home. Buyers mainly target the house with land; apartments, fewer in number, are concentrated around the village and in recent developments.
The average price of apartments in Venelles is 4 727 €/m², based on the transactions actually completed before notaries and published in the DVF database. That average covers gaps linked to floor area, condition, floor level, the presence of outdoor space and location. As the Venelles market is made up above all of houses, the number of apartment sales remains small, which makes the average more sensitive from one year to the next. An older home in the village and a recent apartment do not trade at the same level.
Venelles is built around its old village on a plateau, surrounded by countryside alternating between bastide houses, estates and detached-house developments. Properties close to the centre, to the shops and to the schools generally sit at the top of the range, as do houses with land, a garden or a swimming pool. Homes further out and heavily dependent on the car remain more affordable. The open view over the Aix countryside and over the Sainte-Victoire mountain, to the south-east, also adds value to certain areas.
Venelles is crossed by the A51 motorway, whose junction number 13 links the municipality directly to Aix-en-Provence, some fifteen kilometres to the south, and to the Durance valley to the north. The municipality no longer has a passenger station: the railway line opened in 1865 no longer serves the village, and rail access is via Aix-en-Provence, connected to the TGV network. Daily journeys therefore rely largely on the car, which makes the proximity of the junction valued.
The choice depends on budget and way of life. The benchmark price of 4 727 €/m² relates to apartments, which remain a minority and are concentrated around the village and a few recent developments. Detached houses very largely dominate the Venelles stock and make up the main demand, driven by families looking for land and space. Houses trade according to their floor area, their plot and their features, often above the level of apartments.
No. Venelles is a residential municipality lived in year-round: according to INSEE, main residences account for more than nine dwellings out of ten, and second homes are marginal. Demand comes mainly from households settling for the long term, drawn by the proximity of Aix-en-Provence and by a Provençal country setting. That structure supports a steady market, less exposed to seasonal swings than the coastal or tourist municipalities of the department.
This analysis is published by Immover, an independent observatory founded by Antony Barbier. Data sourced from official sources (DVF, INSEE, Notaries of France).